Friday
19:00 Eastern
Be aboard the Hemingway before departure. The hangar closes, the carrier prepares the Transform, and Earth becomes a very distant place.
DEPARTURE / EARTH01 / USS HemingwayA place to return to.
A place to return to.
Even out here.
One of the largest carriers humanity has ever built, the USS Hemingway has been running for hundreds of years. Generations of crews have passed through its hangars, and its name has become a legend. It is a society in its own right, with livelihoods, loyalties and interests that endure long after an expedition comes home.
Its voyages are financed by a coalition of interests, including powerful Earth syndicates. Some want knowledge. Others want resources, territory or the first claim on whatever lies beyond the charts. Aboard the Hemingway, those ambitions share the same corridors.
The mission reaches back to the quantum measurement problem studied in the early twenty-first century: how a range of possible outcomes gives way to a definite result when measured. The Seed breakthrough of 2126 took humanity somewhere stranger. Conscious observation could bring previously unresolved regions of reality into definite existence. The frontier became something an explorer could help create.
Now the Hemingway carries observers as far as human technology can take them. Every expedition extends the known universe, opening new ground for discovery, research and exploitation. What becomes real out there may hold extraordinary wealth. It may also be capable of fighting back.
A hundred ships / One week beyond the frontier
When the hangar doors open.
Only one hundred ships can make the journey each week. Their crews bring different skills and different reasons for leaving Earth: prospectors searching for a deposit, researchers looking for answers, explorers following a signal, and armed crews ready for what the others might find.
After the jump, the hangar doors open onto the unknown. The fleet disperses, but the Hemingway remains its common point: somewhere to regroup, exchange discoveries, repair the damage and prepare for the next trip out.
At that distance, a small expedition becomes a close community. The ship answering your distress call may belong to someone you met in the hangar. The crew you escort today may be the one that brings you home. Whatever waits beyond the carrier, these are the people you have to face it with.
The Hemingway returns to Earth the following Thursday. What the fleet will discover before then, what it will have to confront, and how many of those hundred ships will return with it are questions no departure roster can answer.
The weekly seed gives explorers common ground. Each expedition unfolds in your own simulation, with its own encounters and consequences.
02 / The weekly cycleA departure time.
A departure time.
An open week.
The voyage follows a weekly schedule in Eastern Time. Board near Earth, travel beyond familiar space, and spend the expedition following what interests you.
Friday
The days
in between.
Launch into the expedition region. Explore systems, prospect, gather samples, investigate contacts, and work with nearby ships when circumstances bring you together.
DESTINATION / WEEKLY SEEDThursday
19:00 Eastern
The Hemingway returns to Earth. Bring back what you learned, what you found, and whatever you managed to keep intact.
RETURN / EARTHAll times are Eastern Time (America/Toronto), following seasonal daylight saving changes.
03 / Out of familiar space
Help has a callsign.
A fleet is more than a number on a roster. It is the ship that answers when you are in trouble, the escort that leaves its post to help, and the crew you recognise on the next transmission.
Contact reports and distress calls can bring other ships into your part of the expedition. Their response depends on who is available, what is happening nearby, and your standing with the Hemingway.
There is room to go your own way.
There are reasons to look out for each other.
Something on the scanner.
Report Hydargos activity so nearby combat ships can respond. A warning gives the fleet a chance to react before another crew flies into the same trouble.
Someone needs a hand.
Call for help when an encounter turns against you, or change course toward another ship’s distress. Support can turn an isolated fight into a shared one.
Every ship is somewhere.
Ships drawn into a fight leave other work behind. An escort responding to a contact may leave another vessel exposed. The expedition keeps moving around your decisions.
Your expedition within the expedition.
A fleet gets you there. What you do with the distance is up to you: survey, drill, research, trade, or simply see what lies in the next system.
The frontier / Unanswered questionsThe charts end.
Read the frontier record ↗The charts end.
The universe continues.
The Hydargos have their own reasons for being out there. They have yet to share them.